The Adventures Of A Free Lunch Junkie - Softcover

Bronsteen, Earl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1460925912 ISBN 13: 9781460925911

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011

Synopsis

Earl Bronsteen is a financially well-off senior citizen and a straight-laced Yale grad. But in May of 2010, he turned to a life of “crime,” all because of an innocent enough piece of mail: an invitation to a free lunch-seminar at The Cheesecake Factory sponsored by a company promoting reverse mortgages to senior citizens. Having no idea what a reverse mortgage is but remembering how delicious the restaurant’s fried chicken and shortcake biscuits slathered with gravy are, he makes a reservation in the hopes he is not unmasked as a freeloader. Thoroughly enjoying the experience (and cheap by nature) he soon becomes addicted to the free food, the people he meets, and especially the spiels of the high-powered salesmen. Seeing the light, Bronsteen realizes he’s found his new life’s work and begins compiling his experiences so he can write a book about his adventures. During the almost ten months he spends “undercover” attending fifty seminars in and around Boca Raton and Palm Beach, Bronsteen’s quest takes him from the country’s finest mahogany-paneled steak houses to plain pipe-racked Chinese restaurants to “all you can eat for $10” buffet-style eateries, significantly lowering his grocery bill as he gains the material he needs. Insightful, charming, and laugh-out-loud funny, Bronsteen’s journey takes him through seemingly endless platters of free food and the trip epitomizes one man’s offbeat, but extremely entertaining, answer to the rising price of food. A free lunch seminar might seem like a very unlikely setting for a comedy, but these adventures prove that humor is where you find it, if you have the right guide.

About this title

About the Author:

The author was born in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. His family migrated to Manhattan several years later. Earl thrived as a scholar/athlete at Horace Mann and Yale and spent several years in the Army Air Force during World War II. Mr. Bronsteen's business career included 10 years as a C.P.A., 10 years in Wall Street and 17 years as an executive of a successful public real estate services company. He retired (was downsized) after a conglomerate acquired the company in the 1980's. Mr. B. was without a care in the world and without any idea how he was going to spend his "golden" senior years. His early love of photography was rekindled and he opened a studio in Manhattan producing luxurious Cibachrome prints of sights he had photographed all over the world. One such photo of the Taj Mahal has been shown worldwide. In 1989 Earl and his wife Judy moved from New York City to Boca Raton, Florida where he gravitated from photography into installation and conceptual art. His eight thousand foot studio became a mecca for contemporary art lovers. His ingenuous creations were exhibited by museums on both of Florida's coasts and one of his 'fifteen minutes of fame' came with his one man show in 2005 at O K Harris Works of Art in SoHo. Earl turned to writing and in 2007 his book "Contemporary Art Appreciation 101" was published. It is a satire (304 pages of narrative embellished with sound, smell and stuff) and sells for $265 in a limited edition. This tome became a 'best seller' in the arcane world of "artists books" and is housed in Special Collections at many of the most prestigious university and public libraries in the U.S, Canada and Britain. The author's current book, "The Adventures Of A Free Lunch Junkie" plays to one of his strengths. He is cheap (value oriented), but in a quiet and unassuming way. Mr. B is an avid tennis player, loving husband, proud parent and grandparent.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1460925912
• ISBN 13: 9781460925911
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288